Gardiner & Rivers 2014 FCCA 76

A judge ordered that two children aged 3 and 6 years live with their mother and spend daytime periods with their father who had re-partnered. The judge ordered that the father’s de facto spouse be restrained from being present during the father’s access time (restrained from contact). The de facto spouse was found to have stabbed herself in the abdomen (self harm) after drinking and to have informed police that the ex-wife was responsible for her injury. The de facto spouse was later charged and convicted of perjury. The de facto spouse had a previous history of self-harm leading to hospital admissions.